April Updates + May Buget

Refinance/Money
Wow! What a month. With all the refinance stuff going on, we didn't put any month into our Roth IRA last month like normal, but we did manage to CASH flow our $447 appraisal fee... I taught another Lifeguard Training class this month so we are hoping the extra money from that can replace the money we didn't put into the Roth when we get it early in May. We also had some extra money come in, gas rebate check from work, $25 credit card rewards, etc... and most of it was spent/absorbed.

We spent a lot of money in April... That tends to be the case with us when birthdays come around. I want to make the hubby feel special and not deprived so we go out more often and we pick up small things here and there, and we shop, and it adds up. Thankfully we were able to reduce our expenses elsewhere and broke even, even with the appraisal fee-- but without the normal amount that should be going into our retirement account. Oh well... we can't be perfect but we had a good month and it was much needed.

Part of our stress came from my working long hours and SCB tried changing his anti depressant to a new brand for some side effect reasons... but after a week and a half of pure hell and chaos he went back to his regular meds and we both felt relieved to have a more normal environment again. It was night and day and I will never let him touch that other brand again... (It was more expensive too but man was it a horrible week and a half)

Job Interviews
South County Boy went on his first job interview since we expunged his record and we are still waiting back to hear if he got the job. He has 3 more applications on his desk to fill out and turn in regardless. Always best to keep lots of options open.

BBQ's
Other than birthday shopping and picking up some clothes, we ended up buying a new Propane Gas hose for our BBQ with some of our credit card rewards cash because we hate our BBQ. My mom insisted on buying this GINORMOUS BBQ when we first started talking again as a belated house warming gift... and ever since then its been taking up wayyy too much space on our patio... and one of the grill panels is warped just after about a year of light use... It just dips downs into a puddle at the middle.  because we have only ever used one of the three panels. never use the whole thing with just the two of us...  So the idea we have been floating around with was either  to *fix* it and make it smaller somehow, or replace it.

"Stitch" died while we were cleaning her out to take her
down to the free car wash (we had coupons) so "Wanda"
had to jump her... yeah for old reliable battery awesome
"Wanda"

After much searching both online and in stores, I've learned that most propane grills can't be *bought* in compact form unless you get a table top one... and internet reviews for table top grills are not so pretty... We found one or two standing ones that might work, but it was going to cost us $150-$250 to replace ours since only 1 or 2 models didn't have those stupid side panels that just take up so much space... but they came with horrible grill plates. So we decided to repair ours instead. We bought the new propane gas hose for $18.33 which allowed SCB to take off the side burner we have never use and the extra side panel that was on the other side. He then just moved the warped grill plate off to the far side of our grill and we are now just using one of the 2 other pates that we never used before. Our grill now takes up 1/2 the space it did before and it fits in the corner of a patio!

Now for the money (we under cut grocery and gasoline costs which helped us cover some of the other stuff!):

What we have spent this month

Groceries:  $159.60

Car Repairs: $89.20

Gasoline: $102.63

Health Insurance: $178.00

Prescriptions: $30.00

Housing: $1,512.48

Giving: $309.00

Birthdays: $191.88

Electricity: $45.10

Cell Phones: $137.91

Internet: $28.99

Eating Out: $96.89

Clothes: SCG- $48.47

Clothes: SCB- $57.73

Other: $81.52 (Stamps, Toothbrush Heads, Grill Hose)

What we spent money on in 2013:

• Church Giving: $1,549.00
• Groceries/Household Supplies: $832.73
• Car:
• Gasoline: $509.59
• Car Registration: $189



Me incredibly bored at Home
Depot while SCB browses... and
browses... and browses...

• Car Repairs: $109.20
• Date Night/ Eating Out: $291.36
• Cell Phones: $553.81
• Internet: $123.75
• Electricity: $175.11
• House: 
• HOA: $1,050.00
• Mortgage: $3,374.46
• Refinance: $447.00
• Clothes:
• SCG: $91.74
• SCB: $66.80
• Medical/Dental/Dr/Prescriptions
• Heath Insurance Premiums: $534.00
• Prescriptions: $50.00
• Holidays:
• Valentines Day: $8.50
• Easter: $13.47
• Birthdays: 293.49
• Other:
• Expungement Fees: $292.81
• Tax preparation Fees: $56.98
• Computer Parts: $297.32
• Stamps, Toothbrush heads, Grill Hose $81.52

May Budget

While our refinance will go through this month, we have decided to discontinue adding the extra bit to our mortgage until we figure things out. We need a little breathing room after cutting our expenses so much this past year, so we are going to add in some more spending than last month and see how that goes.

$1424.00 paycheck one

• Giving $142.00 
• Mortgage (P&I, Property taxes, MIP): $802.98
• Fast Offering: $10.00 
• Groceries & Food: $250.00 
• Prescriptions & Doctors visits: $50.00 
• Date Night: $50.00
• Birthday savings: $50.00
• Discretionary/Clothes/Things: $50.00 
• Savings/Surplus: $22.90

$1424.00 paycheck two 

• Giving: $142.00 
• HOA: $262.50 
• Insurance (2 Autos, earthquake, homeowners) $129.00 
• Utility Bills (2 Cell Phones, Electricity, Internet): $230.00 
• Gasoline/Auto: $200.00 
• Christmas: $50.00 
• Kaiser: $178.00 
• Roth IRA: $236.38

Remaining Financial Goals

1. Make one extra Mortgage payment this year:  ($162.66 / $650.64) 25%
2. Put at least 15% of our income into retirement: 9.76% thus far 
1. Deferred Comp: $40.00
2. Roth IRA: $702.24 / $5,000.00
3. Pension: $624.66
3. Save $500 for Sealing and Family coming to town in August. ($190.00 / $500.00) 38%
4. Save $1,500.00?????? for dental work for SCB
5. Save $1,000.00 for future car repairs and the start of a car replacement fund.
6. Save $300 for a winter trip out to Utah to visit family.

Remaining Fun Annual Goals Updates

If its in bold, i'm either working on it, or finished with it!

1. DONE!!!! Find something new to crochet-- sweater, pattern, anything
2. DONE!!!!! Sew something from scratch or re purpose something I was going to toss out into something I'd wear. You'll have to wait to see the post on this because i'm going to have to take in more clothes and do more work!
3. Cook or try to cook 6 new things or recipes



SCB got some pretty Olive wood
that was cut down from some
trees at the crystal cathedral. He
started working on a bowl he's
going to finish for me at Arts Alive.

1. Salmon! (I learned how to cook it in the oven)!
2. Home made Pico Salsa
3. Tomato and Cucumber Salad
4. Broccoli Cakes
4. Read / Enjoy 6 new books
1. Sabriel by Garth Nix (audio book)
2. Lirael by Garth Nix (audio book)
3. Abhorsen by Garth Nix (audio book)
4. Nothing to Loose by Lee Child (audio book)
5. The Hard Way by Lee Child (audio book)
6. The killing Floor by Lee Child (audio book)
7. Die trying by Lee Child (audio book)
5. DONE!!!!! Loose weight (or just get the scale to 148 lbs and stay there or under)
1. at 147 clothed on my work scale at the end of the month! Now i'm going to see if I can get down to 145 lbs on my work scale.
6. Change my last credit card to my married name
7. DONE!!!! Grow a garden with my neighbor
1. For any early birthday present, SCB let me get a tomato plant, 3 strawberry plants, and 4 bell pepper plants! My neighbor will be getting some more plants since my balcony gets the sunshine and we will share in our happy little bounty.
8. DONE!!!!! Complete a half marathon in 3 hours and 30 minuets or less. DONE
1. 2 hours, 41 minutes!